How Key Psychological Theories Can Enrich Our Understanding of Our Ancestors and Help Improve Mental Health for Present and Future Generations: A Family Historian’s Perspective
Family historians could increase their understanding of their ancestors and themselves and improve the mental health of living and future generations if they consider the psychological history of their forebears. Genealogists could then begin to recognize their family’s unique psychological inherita...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Genealogy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/6/1/4 |
| _version_ | 1827091331110928384 |
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| author | Helen Parker-Drabble |
| author_facet | Helen Parker-Drabble |
| author_sort | Helen Parker-Drabble |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Family historians could increase their understanding of their ancestors and themselves and improve the mental health of living and future generations if they consider the psychological history of their forebears. Genealogists could then begin to recognize their family’s unique psychological inheritance that can appear as a result of trauma, depression, or addiction. The author explores three generations of a Parker family branch from Huntingdon/Norfolk, England, to show family historians how such considerations can shed light on their family’s psychological legacy. The author does this by introducing us to her great-grandmother Ann grandfather Walter, and mother Doreen through the lens of attachment theory, and their adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as poverty, bereavement, and addiction. Attachment matters because it affects not only how safe we feel, our ability to regulate our emotions and stress, our adaptability, resilience, and lifelong mental and physical health, but attachment style can also be passed on. In addition, this paper utilizes attachment theory to speculate on the likely attachment styles for the three generations of the Parker family and looks at the possible parenting behavior in the first two, the effect of alcoholism and the intergenerational impact of trauma and depression. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:48:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d46d685ddc184233a7f72fc1aa16578d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2313-5778 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-20T05:54:36Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Genealogy |
| spelling | doaj.art-d46d685ddc184233a7f72fc1aa16578d2024-10-03T01:29:39ZengMDPI AGGenealogy2313-57782021-12-0161410.3390/genealogy6010004How Key Psychological Theories Can Enrich Our Understanding of Our Ancestors and Help Improve Mental Health for Present and Future Generations: A Family Historian’s PerspectiveHelen Parker-Drabble0Independent Researcher, London W1A 6US, UKFamily historians could increase their understanding of their ancestors and themselves and improve the mental health of living and future generations if they consider the psychological history of their forebears. Genealogists could then begin to recognize their family’s unique psychological inheritance that can appear as a result of trauma, depression, or addiction. The author explores three generations of a Parker family branch from Huntingdon/Norfolk, England, to show family historians how such considerations can shed light on their family’s psychological legacy. The author does this by introducing us to her great-grandmother Ann grandfather Walter, and mother Doreen through the lens of attachment theory, and their adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as poverty, bereavement, and addiction. Attachment matters because it affects not only how safe we feel, our ability to regulate our emotions and stress, our adaptability, resilience, and lifelong mental and physical health, but attachment style can also be passed on. In addition, this paper utilizes attachment theory to speculate on the likely attachment styles for the three generations of the Parker family and looks at the possible parenting behavior in the first two, the effect of alcoholism and the intergenerational impact of trauma and depression.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/6/1/4genealogyfamily historyattachmentdepressiontraumaprolonged grief disorder |
| spellingShingle | Helen Parker-Drabble How Key Psychological Theories Can Enrich Our Understanding of Our Ancestors and Help Improve Mental Health for Present and Future Generations: A Family Historian’s Perspective Genealogy genealogy family history attachment depression trauma prolonged grief disorder |
| title | How Key Psychological Theories Can Enrich Our Understanding of Our Ancestors and Help Improve Mental Health for Present and Future Generations: A Family Historian’s Perspective |
| title_full | How Key Psychological Theories Can Enrich Our Understanding of Our Ancestors and Help Improve Mental Health for Present and Future Generations: A Family Historian’s Perspective |
| title_fullStr | How Key Psychological Theories Can Enrich Our Understanding of Our Ancestors and Help Improve Mental Health for Present and Future Generations: A Family Historian’s Perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Key Psychological Theories Can Enrich Our Understanding of Our Ancestors and Help Improve Mental Health for Present and Future Generations: A Family Historian’s Perspective |
| title_short | How Key Psychological Theories Can Enrich Our Understanding of Our Ancestors and Help Improve Mental Health for Present and Future Generations: A Family Historian’s Perspective |
| title_sort | how key psychological theories can enrich our understanding of our ancestors and help improve mental health for present and future generations a family historian s perspective |
| topic | genealogy family history attachment depression trauma prolonged grief disorder |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/6/1/4 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT helenparkerdrabble howkeypsychologicaltheoriescanenrichourunderstandingofourancestorsandhelpimprovementalhealthforpresentandfuturegenerationsafamilyhistoriansperspective |